up next, conversations with some of the legends of television. peter falk talking about his role as lieutenant colombo and about the price of fame. the woman behind the scenes at i love lucy reveals on how they came up with some of those

crazy situations for lucy. >> it's all up here, it's mental attitude. i learned a lot from this golden girl. betty white tells the satisfactory of an aging guide dog too old to work but that still needed a sense of purpose. it's all comingup next on second look. good evening everybody i'm frank somerville. actor peter falk died this week. falk received five emmys and five oscar nominations. elane corral visited with faulk and talked to him about his career. >> reporter: we talked with the 60-year-old star in his mansion in the hollywood hills. where a parade of cars drove slowly. >> reporter: since we've been sitting here, all of these cars

haven't stopped driving by your house. does it drive you crazy? >> it's kind of tough, you can't run out on your underwear and i like to swing a golf club. and i tell you it's hard to swung a golf club, because, excuse me. because people want a picture then they want an photograph. >> reporter: faulk says television makes people too famous. >> what i'm surprised is there's something out of whack. it's too much. i was at a restaurant and someone who does the weather report on television comes running into the restaurant and everybody got up all excited to get their photograph. and yet there are a great many people who are not on television and not in the

movies who display some of the characteristics that we should admire. some of them have real courage. >> reporter: in europe, peter faulk is known as a movie star instead of a tv star. he's played in everything from war movies to comedy but somehow keeps coming back to that trench coat. >> i've had this coat for seven years. >> you poor man. >> you're on television. >> reporter: well, colombo, there's a lot of things i liked about him. i liked a lot of things about him and i think a lot of people liked the same things. i think you like a guy who likes his job. i think you like a guy who likes his work. i think you sense somebody that is happy with what they're doing. that's a big thing in life.

to be totally absorbed with what you're doing and to be good at it and he was very good. >> i can't say you were the murderer, i said if you were the murderer. listen, it could have been a perfect murder. >> reporter: you talked very lovingly about colombo but does it take a big toll on your personal life? >> yeah, i think probably yeah. i think that i pay for that, in terms of the two kids, in terps terms of the first marriage. they were 12 hour days, 16 hour weekends. and we only did it eight years. but it does take a long time. >> reporter: peter started in tv, and was soon approached by columbia studios. but he ran into trouble with studio head cone who said he was concerned about what he called faulk's deficiency. >> i honestly did not know what

he meant. so proficiency? finally he said, i'm concerned about your eye. and i told him flat out, there's no problem here. and the guy recommended me. he didn't notice it, he told me there's a difference between television and movies. there's a small screen and a big screen. i argued with him some more and he just said, hey, for the same price i'll get a guy with two eyes. and that was that. i thought he was absolutely -- he was a guy that was hiring me. and he was trying to be delicate about it. and i didn't want to take the part when i heard what he was talking about because i can't pass the test. i am all right if they do like this. but if they say keep your head still and look to the left and

i go -- i don't have a chance. >> reporter: acting isn't his only talent. as we saw in his art studio at home. he loved to draw but up until now has kept quiet about it. this week his lithograph just off the press in new york went up for sale. and he lights up when you notice his work. >> i get a kick out of that and i love it when people like it. isn't that great. but like all things, you have to keep things in balance. still to come on a second look, keep the woman who helped put lucy in all those crazy situations. patty lee davis.

and betty white helps helps find a new place for a seeing eye dog. [ jolene ] i got involved with honor flight through my job here at southwest airlines. honor flight is an opportunity for world war two veterans to travel to washington d.c. to get to see their monument. you know, joe, i'd like to thank you

for honoring our country, for giving your time, and just making us so proud. [ joe ] on behalf of all of the veterans, you're welcome. ♪ this is who i am. ♪ so if you've owned a

television any time in the last 60 years, the odds are you saw an episode of i love lucy. you've probably watched all of them, and some of them more than once. one of the geniuses behind all those crazy situations in which lucy found herself was pioneer television writer patty lou davis. ktvu prepared an hour long special to celebrate lucy ball's birthday. and in that special, davis talked about how they came up with situations. >> we started with very simple little stories that she spent too much money. or that she wanted to get a freezer. and you know she was always doing things that -- there was a lot of money problems. they sold their washing machines and it immediately

broke. everybody sells something to a friend and immediately it goes to pieces. >> friends and money i always said. >> your job is to take each piece of candy and wrap it in a piece of paper. >> we thought to switch jobs one day, and we thought what might be a funny job and we came up with candy. >> what lucy and vivianne did in that assembly line was genius and that's what made it a classic. i was always wonderrering if lucy could do it because you could replace me. >> you can't roll out the door. we used to put in the script, we did this.

so that lucy would know we had tried it. and lucy said she and vivianne said, they tried it, i guess that it's all right. >> remember that name, vinamitiman. >> what is it? >> vita -- >> m to the best of -- mita. >> it took us three days to get the title of it. >> it was vegetables, meat and vitamins. that took us forever. because it built, she was drinking that, which has liquor in it. and getting a little more

anibriated. and she said look at what i had to learn because it was so repetitive. but she did it. >> no cue cards. >> no cue cards on those days. >> vitameta contains vitamins and meat and vegetables and minerals. >> i lived down the street from dr. merck and his family. i was looking for a name that was sort of funny but not comical. so i thought of mertz and we liked it. it was a name you would remember too. so for years i thought, i wonder what the metz' really think. dr.mertz had to sons that were doctors. and i ran into them and i thought they would say, thanks a lot. but they thought it was funny. the daughter of lucille ball and desi arnez appeared to

talk about their mom. gloria halierd had a look at memorabilia when it was still in hollywood 20 years ago. >> i would like to thank the academy i'm most grateful. >> reporter: while her emmys, her favorite portrait, her first tv guide cover and those that followed. her husband gary morton sings lucy a tribute for the first time. >> it was very emotional. i lived with this for 30 years. they took her career from the beginning as you walk in, you see when she first started as a model in new york to come as a golden girl here in hollywood. >> reporter: there are ho momentos of the screen and home

videos. there are other lucy collectibles. lucy dolls, lucy plates, lucy pajamas and of course movie posters. >> people forget that lucy was a great movie actress. >> reporter: not those who attended the memorial. >> i really miss her. >> we were really close friends but i really miss her. >> reporter: for lucy arnez who worked to put together the tribute to her mother, this corner was most special to her and her dearest momento. >> i'm wearing it. they're not going to get this one. >> my mom never threw anything out. when i went into the costume room she kept in the back of the house. there were things i never knew

she had. the cello routine. the fat suits, it's just amazing. we got as much together as we could, and put it in chronological order along with letters from presidents and movies. >> along are those most cherished screen memories and perhaps lucy ball's greatest legacy. her laughter. gloria hellard. and coming up, we learn the shows that kept the television industry alive. and coming up, betty white and the tale of one very special dog.

plywood, cement. i, i enjoy the breeze on my tongue. well uh, and every weekend, seems like we're headin' down to the lake. we're pullin' a boat or somethin'. i don't know why. i just do. it's not a problem. i don't mind as long as we always stop at chevron and get that techron stuff. my ears flop around too. check it out. [ male announcer ] your car takes care of you, care for it. chevron with techron. care for your car. it's hard work; i need a nap.

back in the early days of television, people had some lofty ideas of what should be on. but as bob shaw explained in this report. those programs lost a lot of money and it was people like

walt disney and desi arnaz who actually helped make television a commercial success. >> reporter: the fcc license to license the first american television stations. the stations were operated by private interests after a profit by median that could not be expanded beyond 24 hours a day. all they had to do was point a camera at something that was taking place any where and fill a commercial time on the show. but networks were required to provide a minimum of 15.5 minimum hours of broadcasting a week. so they were forced to produce their own shows that nearly killed the industry. >> this is a guy who is almost a heavyweight champion of the world. >> listen, you and me right. >> it's a fat ugly man. >> i didn't want this. >> reporter: now when we see clips of classic performances by james dean, we yearn for the

days of light quality drama. but we forget these shows came out of desperation of the tv stations. broadcasters had to try and create their own feature lenght programs. by the end of tv's first decade there were 11 dramatic antology shows each week despite the rare triumph like andy, they were very expensive to produce. until video tape was perfected in the 60s, light programs could only be -- the only technically way to repeat the show was to reproduce the show from scratch. obviously for the sake of the medium, things had to change and luckily they did. over the next five years the percentage of households with

tvs shot from five to 64. lucy ball and desi arnaz refused to move to new york, and asked for tv cameras. disney had a dream called disneyland. >> i felt there should be something built. some sort of an enterprise built where the parents and the children could have fun together. >> it was an expensive dream so abc offered to invest 1/3 of the capital needed to build the dream. the program premiered in 1954 and it's mix of cartoon, theatrical shorts took the country by storm. over the years, walt disney made enormous contributions to

the networks. he pioneers themy any series, his technicolor helped colorize tv. warner brothers was the first to follow disney's lead with chayanne, maverick and 77th sunset strip. >> you can't miss 77th sunset strip every week on tv. >> reporter: every major studio are producing shows for television and fox now has its own network. you know her as an actress, but betty white is also an author. and she will talk about a book she cowork about an aging seeing eye dog who needed a purpose after retiring. i want to crush more cars.

♪ i want to sell more tea cups. ♪ i need help selling bread. ♪ i want to sell more crabs. [ male announcer ] you know where you want to take your business. i want to design more buildings. [ male announcer ] in here, small business solutions from at&t can get you there. starting with the at&t all for less package --

just $70 per month, voice plus broadband. it's the at&t network. helping you do what you do... even better. there is no question that betty white is an amazing woman. last year when she was 88 years

old, she was named the actress of the year. betty white's first big role was on life with elizabeth created by her own production company. in 1991, she appeared on mornings on 2 with her coauthor to talk about a book they had written about an aging guide dog for the blind. >> dina had been my guide dog, working animal for nine years. she changed my life. she moved me through the country when i worked for good morning america. we literally had adventure after adventure. at about 9.5 she developed cataract. that becomes pretty difficult for both a dog and a blind fellow.

and one morning we were going to l.a.x. all at once dina realized she couldn't do the job anymore. maybe she was seeing three bodies at once. but she started to turn in a circle and it was the saddest moment in a life. she literally was saying, i love you master but i can't put you in jeopardy and i can't do the work. betty had been my friend for many years. when nelson, came to live with us because i needed another seeing dog. dina became an aging dog who said, i am no longer able to work, i no longer have a job.

and she stopped eating. >> i learned it was all up here. i learned a lot from this golden girl. >> what did you learn from her. >> i learned that you can adopt to anything and you can handle it if you just don't lose your sense of balance and of who you are. when she first came i didn't know, the reason tom had to make the change was because she had been so depressed and so upset about nelson. she came into my house and when he turned her over to me. she watched them pull away on the driveway and i thought it was going to be -- i didn't know how she was going to react. she turned around, as though she rolled up her sleeves and said, what can i do here. by the third morning that she was with me, i told tom afterwards. i was just mind boggled. the alarm went off at 6:30. and i felt the whole bed shaking. i opened the eye and there's a blue slipper right up in my face. and i took it from her and i said thank you dina i said can i have the other one.

she gave me the other one. and when i told tom, that blue slipper thing is the cutest thing i've ever seen. and when i told tom, she had never done that. she had the my mailman and all those things to sort out and she came back to her love live golden self. my first book was on animals used in therapy. we opened an animal oriented pet therapy department at the oakland children's hospital. it was the last city on a 14 city book tour: and the spca sent over a brown puppy and a white puppy and a rabbit. and it was the size of a bar of soap literally, puppy that they had been picked up wandering on the street. it was less than 6 weeks old, evidently i don't know what children playing with it. it wandered away, whatever. it came in and was so sweet with the little children. so when it came time to leave i thought, well that will go to a

home where we don't want rough hands on it or anything. so i tried to talk the executive director taking -- >> i will have to interrupt you only because of time. you called the spca and said save that little dog. you flew bag and got cricket. >> i got cricket and one of the most expensive little free dogs. >> and i have a little dog named samantha and she is also from the local spca. so let's suggest that everybody go to is spca and pick up a dog. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you so much. >> continued success on all your tv shows. >> great, thank you. >> thank you, betty. >> and that's it for this w eek's second look. i'm frank somerville. thank you so much for joining us and i'll see you again next week.

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